**The Bad Plus at Martyrs', (773) 404-9494, on April 4
Instrumental music, be it swing, jazz or improvisational, has been a part of American popular music for many years. Whether you are dancing to it, reading the Sunday paper to it or listening to it in a smoke-filled club, it is a part of our landscape and our language.
Platinum Glenn Miller (Bluebird/RCA Victor/BMG) is a double-disc compilation celebrating the many contributions of the saint of the swing era Glenn Miller. Miller's most significant mark, which he made between 1939 and 1942, featured the band leader and trombone player turning out the classics of the period, including 'Star Dust,' 'A String Of Pearls,' 'Tuxedo Junction,' 'Danny Boy,' 'In The Mood,' 'My Blue Heaven,' 'Pennsylvania 6-5000,' 'Rhapsody In Blue,' and 'Moonlight Serenade,' to name just a few of the 40 tunes on this essential collection.
If Glenn Miller's name is synonymous with his horn and his orchestra, than Dave Brubeck will eternally be linked to the piano and his trademark song 'Take 5.' About one –third of the tracks on the double-disc anthology The Essential Dave Brubeck (Columbia/Legacy) are live recordings, and the audience's enthusiasm just reinforces what we already know—Brubeck has been an important and influential artist in the realm of jazz and this collection takes note of that.
Brubeck's influence can be heard on These Are The Vistas (Columbia) by youthful 21st century jazz trio The Bad Plus (Reid Anderson on bass, Ethan Iverson on piano and David King on drums). Equally, you can hear the young trio's rock influences, particularly on their stellar choice of covers, which includes Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' Aphex Twin's 'Flim' and Blondie's 'Heart Of Glass.' The Bad Plus's own rock spirit, as presented by a po-mo jazz trio, is also in evidence on 'Big Eater,' 'Everywhere You Turn,' and '1972 Bronze Medalist,' to mention a few. These Are The Vistas is an album for people who are still on the fence in terms of jazz. It's the kind of breakthrough that can turn heads and change minds, and that's a plus.
If The Bad Plus revealed and reveled in its rock sensibilities on These Are The Vistas, Dapp Theory shows a taste for Steely Dan and political folk singers on Y'All Just Don't Know (Concord). Long-time musical activist Bruce Cockburn provides the vocals on a few songs, including opening track 'Trickle Down,' which crosses into Becker and Fagen territory on the chorus. Hip-hop is also a presence with Kokayi chiming on the spoken word portions. There is also a more traditional progressive vibe on songs such as 'Neoparadeigma,' 'Con Alma,' and 'Patterns Of Force.'
Even if Chris Botti wasn't a total dreamboat, he would have already earned points from me for having played in Joni Mitchell's touring band. The tasty trumpeter, whose work has shades of Mark Isham, has returned with a new album titled A Thousand Kisses Deep (Columbia). If only! The title track is a cover of the Leonard Cohen song and Botti co-wrote both the samplified 'Do It In Luxury' and the simmering 'If I Could,' with Cohen's co-writer Sharon Robinson. Botti gives Bacharach and David's 'The Look of Love,' a new look, complete with lead vocals by Chantal Kreviazuk and revisits Bacharach on 'The Last Three Minutes,' which features Doyle Bramhall on guitar. Album closer 'Love Gets Old' (co-written by the underappreciated Holly Palmer) is a heartbreaking number communicated via horn and piano.
Contemporary jazz enthusiasts will want to get their hands on Other Hours: Connick On Piano – Vol. 1 (Marsalis Music/Rounder) a collection of a dozen Harry Connick, Jr. originals, with Connick, appropriately enough, on piano.
When you listen to Haralambos (Western Vinyl) by Bexar Bexar, it may strike a familiar chord, especially if you listen to the Public Radio International show This American Life. Some of Bexar Bexar's music has been used in segments of the acclaimed radio show. Dreamy and synthetic, these songs, including 'Aidos,' 'kt,' 'Learning To Love Her Lazy Eye,' sound like the soundtrack for a ballet recital at the power station. When an acoustic guitar turns up, as one does on 'Where She Lives Everyday,' 'Princess of Daughter,' 'Memento Mori,' and 'Pay Attention,' to name a few, it sounds perfectly natural to hear it floating in and out of the electronic sound waves.
Johnathon Ford and Nic Tse have both spent time in Chicago and you can hear the influence of the city's post-rock music scene (see Tortoise, see Town & Country) on The Marionette and The Music Box (Burnt Toast Vinyl) on the album by their band Unwed Sailor. A little more stripped down than some of the other post-rock units, the songs are nevertheless beautiful and a befitting soundtrack to a puppet show, real or imaginary.
Dedicated to her dad, 'who bought me my first guitar,' Everybody Loves You (Velour) is Kaki King's 'first guitar record, put together after a year's worth of recording in friends' studios.' From the rollicking fever pitch of 'Kewpie Station' to the tasty 'Steamed Juicy Little Bun' to exquisite 'Night After Sidewalk,' King is queen of the acoustic guitar on these varied and fascinating original songs. Someone this young and talented could easily fulfill the promise of her album's title.
Before he became the new-grass poster-boy as a member of the acclaimed band Nickel Creek, Chris Thile was already a mandolin superstar before he was a teenager. Thile teams up with fellow mandolin player Mike Marshall on Into The Cauldron (Sugar Hill), a sublime collection of strummed and plucked tunes that range from originals ('Harvest Time,' 'Stranded In Kodiak,' 'Something Quite Trifiing') to the classics ('Variation #1' from Bach's Goldberg Variations) to traditionals ('Fisher's Hornpipe') and jazz ('Scrapple From The Apple').
The Other Side of Words (Delvian), the third album released by prolific Kyle Swager in 2003, has the same instrumental electronic ambience of the early 1980s new-age releases from the Private Music and Windham Hill labels. The same can be said for Daydreamer (Worldtrax Music) by Ryan Farish.
